Payment Due
by paganpunk2
Summary: Joe, Dex and Polly have a discussion topside after retrieving Joe's plane from the island.  Heavily implied Joe/Dex.


This may stay as it is, or I might get frisky and decide to do a second chapter detailing exactly what form the first payment takes. Reviews always welcome!

"Fifty seven," Dex announced as Sky Captain drew to a stop beside him, Polly fast on his heels.

"Fifty seven what?" she asked curiously. Joe merely grinned.

"Oh, hi, Polly. Fifty seven screws. That's how many I'm going to need in order to put this plane back the way it supposed to be."

"There were that many broken pieces?" she gaped. "You said it was perfectly safe to fly it back up here!" she lectured, giving the beaming pilot beside her a shove.

"It was okay to fly," Dex intervened, shrugging and popping his gum mildly. "It's just gonna need that many screws to make it one hundred percent again, that's all."

"You're going to have to collect most of those from off the floor, judging from how the base looked the last time I saw it," Sky Captain informed him.

"Hey, so long as they're complete, that's all I ask. I don't need them all at once, you know. I can do things piecemeal, here and there, while we rebuild."

"Wait a minute," Polly interrupted. "I didn't even know there _were_ that many screws in a plane. I thought there were more nuts and bolts, things like that." She was more than a little out of her realm of expertise, discussing mechanics with Dex of all people, but that seemed like an awfully high number of things to be broken inside a plane for it to still be safe to fly in.

"Oh, there's lots of those too," the engineer agreed with her. "And there are more than fifty seven screws in this plane. I just only need that many to fix it this time."

"Watch, you'll find you need a few more than that before you're through with it."

"Maybe. Depends on what I find once I get started. I haven't even really looked at the wiring yet."

"…There are screws in the wiring?" Polly inquired, wrinkling her nose and trying to ignore Joe's laughter beside her.

"Not _in _the wiring, no, but sometimes you need a couple to get them all back where they're supposed to go."

"So all these different things are wrong, but it was still okay to fly?" she asked skeptically, crossing her arms. She was beginning to think that the two men were putting her on in some kind of prank, but part of her found it hard to believe that the engineer would be party to such a thing.

"Sure."

"_Sure?_ How can you be sure, Dex? What if something else had broken while we were on the way up here from getting this stupid thing off the island? We might have been killed!" She was shouting now, upset at the unconcerned attitude that was being exhibited, and heads looked toward her as her voice rose. "How can you just arbitrarily _know_ it was okay when there were that many things broken?"

Suddenly she was certain that she had gone too far. Sky Captain's chortling ceased, and Dex stiffened as he turned to stare at her. "I _know_ because I built this plane, Polly," he explained. His voice was quiet, but she could hear the steel in it. This was a Dex she had never had reason to suspect existed, and to have him opposing her without warning sent a wave of disquiet through her. She swallowed heavily as he leaned slightly forward and went on. "I know every piece that has ever been added or taken away. Provided that she had two working engines and the ability to be steered, I would have bet money on the safety of anyone riding in the back seat, so long as Joe was behind the stick." His gaze moved from glare into jest as it shifted towards the man he'd just complimented. "Besides, I didn't say fifty seven screws were broken. Just that that was how many I needed to fix the things that are."

"It's true, Polly, that is what he said," Sky Captain backed him up, amusement entering his voice again as the engineer returned to the panel he was removing. "Besides, if you were that worried about it, you could have ridden back with Frankie. Dex would have ridden with me, wouldn't you have?"

"Yup."

"Ride back with-with-" The thought of having to endure even a minute locked in an airplane with the woman she was absolutely positive had been her competitor in Nanjing was enough to make her cheeks redden with anger. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot before storming off, steam practically pouring from her ears.

Once she was gone and he had managed to stop giggling, Joe took a few steps forward and rested one hand lovingly on the dented hide of his plane. The fingers of his other hand landed with equal emotion on his engineer's shoulder. "Dex?"

"Hmm?" he replied from where he was bent over and half buried in the guts of Sky Captain's beloved aircraft.

"I won't make you get _all_ of the screws you need from the floor."

"I'll take them where I can get them, Cap."

"You deserve quality, Dex. I intend to give it to you."

He straightened up and brushed his hair out of his face with one hand, giving the taller man a discreet look that couldn't cover the passion burning in his eyes. "Is that a promise?" he half-whispered. "That much quality, all to myself?"

"You _have_ given me quite the tall order to fulfill, it's true."

"Think you can handle it?" He licked his lips.

"Why don't I make the first payment right now?" Joe suggested, mimicking the other man's action as heat flooded him.

"I think I have time to take your deposit, Cap."

"Meet me in your quarters in…fifteen?"

"That long?"

"Anticipation is half the fun, love."

"See you there."

"Right."

Sky Captain practically skipped away, and Dex turned back to his project with his hands shaking in anticipation.


End file.
